The Fourth Great Gathering
by Ala Alba EC
Summary: The Legendary Warriors were called; their greatest enemies were revived and aiming to become even stronger. New players were left disoriented with the full action and violence these Legendary Warriors and the Black Hole's Avatars could dish out, their own world view shattered and destroyed as they learned from their predecessors' stories. [All Stars DX continuity]
1. Chapter 1

Tense atmosphere, so thick that you could cut it with butter knife, fell into the Pig's Tail. Eyes narrowed, fists clenched, teeth grinded, all while the bystanders gulped down their saliva in anticipation. Mana Aida bit her lips, waiting for her adversary's next move.

The man scoffed as he pulled out his weapon and dug it into the girl's flesh. As he took a large chunk of meat and ripped it straight from its bone, Mana closed her eyes in pained expression.

"Mana…" the man started. Mana could only opened one eye, afraid of the next development.

The man again scoffed and slammed his hand into the table, fork clattered from the between of his fingers.

"The damn thing is still raw, girl! What the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm sorry, Grandpa!" she shouted in apology as she bent down at waist level. The witnessing people in the restaurant sighed in surrender at this. Another failed dish from one supposed genius.

Bando Soukichi stood from his stool and walked away.

"You're still far away from there."

When the man was out of the earshot, Mana crumpled against the counter and put her head sideway on it. A small, long whine barely came out from her open mouth. Kentaro couldn't be more understand his daughter now than ever.

"Even toward his granddaughter, he's still as strict."

"Now, now, Mana-chan. There's always a next time." Alice patted her friend on her back. Mana only turned her head so she was face down on the table.

From the background, a woman smiled at the display.

"That's a very interesting tradition, Mr. Chef."

The woman's deep voice finally attracted the rest of the restaurant's inhabitants of her presence. Aguri frowned at the woman's appearance. Long dirty green hair that reached all the way to ground and chalk white skin. She looked almost like a doll, if not for her height that towered over everyone else in the restaurant. Radiating a dangerous atmosphere around her, the Cures grew nervous at this strange woman as she walked out of the place.

Meanwhile, in Kibougahana, an emergency meeting was called to all the Precures. The one that was known as the Great Gathering. Seven teams from different districts sat inside the Myoudouin dojo, forming a perfect circle as a sign of their camaraderie and equality. Miyuki and her team, however, fidgeting in their seat. They had no idea of there were other teams of Pretty Cures, and now sitting beside them, they had no idea what to say and do.

A ferret with blue muffler walked into the center of the circle and fake-coughed to gather everyone's attention.

"Y'all already got the invitation, right?" he spoke an extremely out of place grimness for his voice. When everyone nodded at this, he continued, "Then y'all know what's goin' on. Black Hole is back."

Mumbles rose from the rank of the Cures, expressing their disbelief. All except for the teams from Wakabadai and Yuunagi.

"Um…" Akane raised her hand, "What's Black Hole, anyway?"

In an instant, all head now were facing her. Having all these warriors' attention at her, the redhead's confidence wilted immediately and made her shrunk herself.

"Black Hole is…" Honoka Yukishiro started, her voice barely a whisper.

"The ultimate enemy of the Pretty Cure." Her partner finished it for her.

The Nanairogaoka's Cures gasped in surprise. Nagisa shook her head as she combed her hair back.

"It's a great evil that made up of the dark energy from our defeated enemies, and fused into one. A creature made of pure evil energy. We have to sacrifice many things to defeat it."

"When we fought it, we still had not defeat our enemies yet," Hibiki said, eyes sweeping through her teammates, "Now we have, I'm sure that Noise and his Minor Land now also empower Black Hole's strength into something that we've never seen."

"Then it means…!" Miyuki cried in horror.

"… Pierrot and the Bad End Kingdom too!" Yayoi covered her mouth in the same horror. Now they understood just what the other Cures had been afraid of. With their experience fighting against the great evil and destruction Pierrot had brought to the world, fighting something that was even worse was not preferable.

"When Pollun first said about 'awakening', no one really sure about that-mepo." The hero said on behalf of the currently-absent Prince of Light, "But then we heard a message from Princess Filia of the Land of Fountains, and we immediately called for this meeting-mepo."

"Ah, I see. The spirits of the Land of Fountains is the spirits that made up the world. If there's the one who notice something foreign, it would be them." Tsubomi nodded. After finding out Saki's partner was the spirit of flower, she had a long and pleasant chat with Flappy. Said fairy jumped up to his partner's head and crossed his arms.

"We found that vile presence is already in Earth-lapi!"

"What?! You said that you only sensed the presence coming right to Earth!"

"Then is then. Now is now." Flappy deadpanned at Saki's expense. But the news was still shook the entire room and sent them into panic.

"Where is it?" Karen demanded with such intense eyes that Flappy almost fell from his perch.

"T-That… in district named Oogai."

"Karen-san, I know this guy is an annoying prick, but please don't yell at him like that."

Karen looked down to the younger girl's face. Saki had a surprisingly serious expression on, something that didn't happen often unless they were right in the middle of crisis. Karen finally lowered her head in a small bow.

"My apology." Saki then leaned toward her conspiratorially and whispered.

"But you should do again later. Finally I see Flappy that nervous since he babbled out to Choppy his feeling."

Karen rose an eyebrow at this. Tarte again fake coughed.

"I know we're in a very dangerous situation, but calm down. We need to know what Black Hole's after."

"In the First Great Gathering, Fusion, one of Black Hole's avatar, was after our Precure power to make itself stronger before it was after Chiffon." Love said as she gritted her teeth. Burdened by guilt of not being able to protect her charge and trapped inside the gelatinous monster was not a very pleasant experience.

"The Second Great Gathering had Bottom going after the Rainbow Jewel, the source of hope and thus the power of Precure as whole." Tsubomi continued, remembering how the utter chaos of having the weakest Precure in history had to fight the strongest enemy generals the side of evil could ever threw them with.

"And the Third Great Gathering had Black Hole itself destroying the Prism Flower, the balance center of all worlds." Divided and conquered, Hibiki learned that day she couldn't tempt fate too much.

"Based on that we can assume that Black Hole is searching for some sort of power… in the district." Setsuna trailed off, before unsurely biting her lips, "Don't tell me…"

"What is it, Setsuna?"

"The truth is, when Lord Moebius had set his eyes on Chiffon, he also had a secondary objective. But then, he decided that Infinity was more important for him and the project was abandoned. I wouldn't say that this artifact is less powerful than Infinity in term of raw power but Lord Moebius was more attracted with unlimited knowledge than incredible source of power but with no way to control it."

"And this artifact is in Oogai?"

"It was, the last time I looked into the remains of Lord Moebius' documentation."

"Which means it was months ago," Miki sighed. "We can't depending on that. Someone might already take it away."

"Then why Oogai?" Ellen challenged the model. Miki wordlessly stared at the songstress before sighed in defeat.

"You got me."

"First thing's first." Honoka stood up as she referred to the present Cures, "We have to scout the district to see if it's true that Black Hole is after something there but if we have no choice but to fight Black Hole right then and there, then we have to fight with everything we have. Call any ally you can find and ask for their help. We can't have the Third accident happen again."

"Hai!"

The room chorused in unison.

**88888**

"Next time… for sure!"

Mana threw her right fist to air, snorting loudly through her nose. Rikka only shook her head, but there was a smile on her face.

They were walking through Oogai's streets. Nothing of particular reason; just walking with dear friends and enjoying the afternoon, talking about meaningless things that came up in their mind at the moment. How the sky was so blue, how the park was too crowded for them to do anything, how the fountain was being ridiculously out of place with its intricately made carved stone.

Except for Aguri, who walked a little behind them. Alice noticed this and slowed her pace. Without turning her head, she wondered out loud.

"What's in your mind, Aguri-chan?"

Said girl was slightly surprised at Alice' voice but quickly composed herself. Her eyes shifted to lower left, where Alice was in the opposite of, and mumbled out in an urgent whisper.

"I felt something. Something evil."

"The Jikochu?"

"No… a lot more vile than I've ever sense before."

"Don't tell me…"

"I don't want to just assume King Selfish finally gets out of his bound, but… for some reason, I can't think of the otherwise. This feeling, like someone grips me with a hand as cold as ice."

"Should we tell Mana and the other?"

"Not yet… at least not now. I don't want to make any useless fuss after the entire fiasco with Leva and Gula's Jikochu Seed."

A clown, face covered with porcelain white mask, made such an incredible acrobat in one side of the street, with his audience's applause became loud enough for the five to turn their head. Rikka was particularly interested with his performance, walking on his hands and flipped back to his feet with a simple jerk of his wrist. The clown threw out his arms, and children at the front row became rowdier than ever.

"I don't think I've ever saw him before…" Makoto said, head tilting, "Before I was scouted as idol, I busked in this same street every day. This street was my home, you can say."

"Makopi…?"

"That man… there's something wrong with him." That sentence made both Aguri and Alice on their guard.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for your attention and time. You're being a very good guest for this humble me and I can't be more grateful for your kindness." His face stretched by a way too wide smile, "And I would like to give you… a present! A present that you will never forget in your entire lifetime! Behold, the worst ending in the world!"

The sudden exclamation confused everyone, but when the sky in an instant turned into dark purple and people suddenly collapse with thick purple haze coming from their body, the Cures no longer could ignore the man.

Said jester on the other hand, frowned at them.

"You resisted the evil energy…"

His frown then turned into a small smirk. His lithe body jumped down the high railing almost like he had no weight and he walked closer in a slow stride.

"A whole team of Precure… Who can guess?"

The girls gasped that this man could find out their identity that fast.

"Who are you?" Rikka shouted to him. The man mockingly thought of the question before he swept his hand and gave them a deep bow.

"Where's my manner?" he chuckled, "I'm known as Joker, little ladies. From the Bad End Kingdom, the right hand man and heir of its rightful emperor, Lord Pierrot."

"Bad End Kingdom?" the name was a dead giveaway.

"Yes…" Then his smirk again changed into a frown, "But I guess Bad End Kingdom is no longer important. I'm serving for a greater cause now, or something." He shrugged. "Either way, I'm here to bring about the worst possible end to this world."

"Everyone. Let's transform!" Mana cried from behind of her gritted teeth.

"Precure! Love Link!"

"Precure! Dress-up!"

"Brimming with love! Cure Heart!"

"Light of wisdom! Cure Diamond!"

"Warmth of sunny spots! Cure Rosetta!"

"Blade of courage! Cure Sword!"

"Trump card of love! Cure Ace!"

"Resonate! The beat of love! Doki Doki Pretty Cure!"

Joker snapped his fingers, materializing several cards behind them. The Cures, still in their posing stance, were shocked at the sudden attack. The cards flipped, revealing several king of hearts. Each holding two sword in both sides of the card, the kings came out of their frames and took the chance to stab them dead.

Diamond had her legs tangled when she turned to see the cards were attacking.

'Damn muscle memory!' she cursed in her head and closed her eyes to brace against the incoming pain.

Right in the middle of the leftmost king's swords.

"Diamond!"

Rosetta jumped in the between of her friend and the threat, redirecting the swords to her sides. The blue Cure used the chance to stabilize herself, calling upon her weapon.

"Precure! Diamond Shower!"

The rain of hail froze all of the cards. Ace turned her attention just in time as Joker dashed in with a sword thrusted toward Rosetta, kicking the sword at its bottom hard, Joker lost his grip. Heart and Sword already upon him, fists reared back. Their mind were still disoriented, but their instinct did all the work against this dangerous man.

Both of their fists met Joker's face. And suddenly, he burst into purple cards.

"What?!"

A set of slow, mocking claps.

"Not bad, not bad! You do better than those girls, at least…"

Joker stood on a lamppost in perfect balance, his foot in tiptoe. Those thin black slits were leering.

"You! The blue one! Your name is Cure Diamond, no?" Diamond's left eye twitched.

"What's of it?"

"… You remind me of someone. I would like to mess you up a little, if you allow me."

"Like I would do that!"

"That's too bad~"

He snapped his fingers again. A card appeared floating above his outstretched hand, glowing and spitting out another sword.

"…That depends on whether you let your guard down to me or no…"

Joker threw the sword with deadly precision, right to Cure Heart's head. A blow that was so fast, she couldn't see it.

"Watch out!"

A blur of pink, kicking away the sword. But Cure Heart was the closest, she could catch a glimpse of her rescuer. Their eyes met, and it was like time itself stopped in its track to let these two souls had a moment to take on each other's appearance.

The girl was pink all over, with wide eyes and large twin tails that looked like drill at several parts. She was a little shorter than any of Oogai's Cures except for Aguri, but that was as expected. What attracted her attention the most was that feathery motif that seemed to follow her. Several downs trailing behind her, creating an illusion of a winged angel.

Suddenly, the angel screamed. She lost her footing with the jump kick, and now crashing through the concrete face first.

They stood shell-shocked. How could she fall face first when it was her leg she was outstretched?

"Still a klutz as ever, Happy?" Joker mocked the newcomer. Said newcomer, Happy, stood up and brushed off dirt on her clothes, large red spot visible on the middle of her face.

Then the angry face was gone and replaced by shock.

"Joker! How could you…" a realization, and determined anger came back at full force. "I see. So it's true. Black Hole resurrected you just like the time with Third Great Gathering!"

"I don't know about this Great Gathering, but yes, Black Hole resurrected me as you can see…"

"What are you after?"

"I have no need to tell you that, yes? It's not like I'll do good to you by telling my goal~"

Cure Happy growled, completely unaware of five girls now watching her with jaws unhinged.

"Wait… There's a Precure beside us?" Diamond racked her brains at the information. Now noticing them, Happy turned her head slightly and let out a small giggle.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Miyuki Hoshizora, Cure Happy!"

"Watch where you're looking, Cure Happy!"

Joker dashed forward, sword thrust like bullet. Happy set her lips in a thin line and dodged, sliding under the between of Joker's legs and pushed herself up with her hand. Rotating her body with the hand at its center, she swept Joker's legs over and kicked Joker off when he lost his footing in one spin. The harlequin flew across the street and slammed against the wall, breaking the foundation and burying him under the ruin.

"Woah!" Cure Heart could help but to be impressed.

"It's not over yet!" the fellow pink Cure shouted.

Three rows of card soldiers burst out of the dust cloud with their spears and swords brandished. The frozen king cards broke through their prison and advanced like a herd of charging bulls.

They were stuck in the middle.

Cure Sword pulled out her bow.

"Precure! Sparkle Sword!"

The rain of swords struck the several kings true in the center, banishing them. But there were still too many. Cure Ace looked down, her heart emblem pulsing red.

"My time is almost up!"

She too pulled out her weapon.

"Ace Shot! Bakyu~n!"

The rest of the kings vanished. With that, Ace turned back into Aguri, leaning heavily to Rosetta's shoulder.

"Happy!" Cure Heart turned back to their savior's side of battlefield and again had her jaw unhinged when she saw Cure Happy broke through the soldiers' ranks with hand to hand combat. About two dozen enemies tossed to air with her charge, and she wasn't slowing down at least.

"Joker!"

Happy jumped, fist already shooting out.

A card, materialized in front of her, a crude drawing of herself on it. The drawing broke through its frame and met Happy's punch with its own. The card copy was destroyed in the struggle of power, but Happy was now holding her knuckle and wincing.

"Excellent performance, Cure Happy! Marvelous, indeed!"

"I'm tired of your games!"

"But I-"

"Precure! Fire Strike!"

A giant ball of fire came rushing to the harlequin, who leaped upward and dodged it. A girl, a Cure, stood on the fountain. Her hair stood out like fire and her red costume seemed to sizzling the water into steam, creating a pseudo-aura.

Joker was taken aback, before composing himself as quickly.

"Cure… Rouge, if I'm not mistaken?"

"Joker, I heard a lot about you…"

"What an honor."

"You reminded me of someone. Someone that was a pain in neck." Rouge growled out, "I'll crush you under my heel!"

"Beat Sonic!"

A row of energy bolts slammed into Joker, which sent him flying. Joker rolled on roof of a gazebo, glaring at his attacker.

A purple haired girl in blue dress, her waist ribbons trailing behind her like tails. In her hands was something that suspiciously like an electrical guitar. Rouge frowned.

"Beat, let me take care of him! Something about him pissed me off so much."

"Rouge, remember why we're here. Called the other first, than you can kick his behind as much as you want."

"You girls really like to play dirty…"

Joker stood up, a card spinning behind her. Happy, who realized it, dashed after him.

"Don't you dare get away from us!"

"But I already am."

Joker jumped into the card, which turned into a black joker card, and vanished before Happy arrived."

"Shit…" Rouge spat.

Beat looked at her with disapproval, before noticing extra Cures between them

"You are… Precures?" she said, unsure. She wasn't there in the Third Gathering, and never really experience its introduction tradition.

The yellow Cure nodded before bowing at waist.

"Thank you for you aid. We're Precures from this city."

"Ah, I see."

"She's Ellen Kurokawa, Cure Beat!" Happy hooked her arm on Beat's shoulder and beamed, "While that readhead," she gestured at said redhead that now walking to their left, "Is Cure Rouge, Rin Natsuki. Pleasure to meet you!"

"Ah! That symbol!" a voice called out from Sword's waist. Davi pointed out to Happy's chest, more precisely, at the heart carving on the orb pinned to her ribbon, "Isn't that the Décor symbol?"

"Ah, yes! I'm a Marchenland's Precure." Happy swept her hand, and the same disembodied, stylized heart symbol materialized on the tip of her fingers. She learned how to create the password for Precure to recognize each other when they were briefed.

"Then they are…!"

Rin made the same twisting motion and a thin butterfly danced on her hand. It fluttered to Diamond's face and she unconsciously tried to touch it. The butterfly flew away and back to Rouge who dismissed it.

"Palmier Kingdom."

Ellen mimicked her companion's action and summoned a G-clef combined with a heart at its body. The small note played a short tune, a happy little jingle that made everyone wanted to dance to its tune.

"Majorland."

"That means…" Cure Sword couldn't believe her own eyes, "Not only there are many Precures, they came from different worlds?"

"Not all of us came from those lands; we're only blessed by those lands' spirits the power of Precures." Rouge tried to explain, though she wasn't that sure they would get it.

"I'm from Majorland, though." Ellen added, unaware of Rin's mental self-depreciation. The red Cure pouted at her.

"We're Precure from Trump Kingdom," Mana dismissed her transformation when the other Cures dismissed theirs, "How do you make that?" she painted at the G-clef. Beat smiled at her curiosity.

"It's easy. Just imagine the symbol that associated with you the most and make the gesture."

Mana nodded and she tried to make that sweeping motion. The small wisp of energy danced on her finger, but it didn't form the symbol. Mana clicked her tongue in disappointment.

"You'll get used with it." Ellen's face turned grim. "Now we've seen Joker himself admits it, we know for sure Black Hole is after something here."

"Yeah, we should report this to Honoka-san and Karen-san." Miyuki suggested.

"Karen can wait." Rin said as she looked into her cellphone. "She's fighting another one of them."

"Then what are we waiting for? We have to help her!"

"She and Nozomi are fighting Despariah, they'll be fine." Rin said, almost careless. "If Nozomi can convince her again to relent, then our help is not needed."

But then, she shook her head.

"But if she's the same as Baron Salamander and Toymajin in the Third Great Gathering, then maybe it's- uh…" she looked into her cell once more, "Despariah retreated… Hah! As expected of Nozomi!"

"Rin…" Ellen sighed in exasperation.

"It's better if we bring them to meet the others."

"The others?" Aguri wondered out loud.

"The other Precures, of course!"

**Chapter 1 Ends**

**88888**

For note, this chapter happens after episode 31 of Doki Doki.

First encounter with the force of evil, and Doki Cures meeting their predecessors. One thing that I dislike from New Stage 2 is that Mana doesn't meet Miyuki in the running gag Meet Cute scenario that All Stars movies have. Damn it! If it doesn't broken, don't fix it! I wanna see Miyuki and Mana run into each other and get awkward together!

This fanfiction will be a Smile and Doki Doki focused, but the other teams will have their turn by rotating the third focus. Several Cures will have more focus by proxy of their authority-inducting charisma and their tactician mind, though, and being de facto leaders of the Gathering. Of course, several early chapters will have them in minimum role to establish the setting first.

Expect allusions from each series in this story. The term Great Gathering (Daishuugo) came from All Stars DX's OP songs. The one Rin mentions being similar to Joker is Kawarino, Despariah's right hand man. The tune that Ellen's G-clef plays is intro tune #Kibou Rainbow#, Suite's second ED. The teams' symbols that they use as password are those pink shapes the Cures hold in their DX3 official artwork; which are:

Max Heart: a heart

Splash Star: a pair of star, large and small

GoGo: a butterfly

Fresh: four leaf clover

Heartcatch: heart-shaped sakura petal

Suite: the G-clef

Because Smile and Doki Doki don't have that kind of artwork yet, I use the symbol most associated with the team. Smile team has the Décor's symbol, that stylized heart most visible on their chest ribbons, while Doki Doki, who can't yet materialize theirs, have the cupid bow and arrow on their transformation Loveads and the Lovely Straight Flush. I think those details are pretty neat.

Doki Doki Precure already in its 31 episode mark, but the physical fight in the installment is still not filling up the quota. I'm worried, but I'm sure the finale is surely awesome. I hope the hype is paid well, or Precure franchise might dying like the time with GoGo. It's something I don't want.

See you in the next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

"Honoka-san! We fought one of the Black Hole's avatars. Someone named Joker."

They sat on the park bench, trying to gather their breath after the battle. Rin had her ear pressed against her cellphone, talking to the person on the other side of the line while once or twice rolling her eyes at people who stopped and gawked at Ellen's attire.

Not that it wasn't unexpected, the songstress was dressed in cowboy gears. Hearing the district had a mountain, she donned the gears at assumption they would have a hiking trip. The rest of Suite team told them to let her be.

Not that she was bothered by it; she instead quite enjoyed the attention, singing for her impromptu audience with an acoustic guitar she brought with her. As expected from Majorland songstress, her voice swooned even the Trump Kingdom knight.

"_Joker… of the Bad End Kingdom? The way Black Hole chose its avatars made me assume that it will choose Emperor Pierrot."_

"Well, it's- Wait… what do you mean by 'the way Black Hole chose its avatar' thing? You mean there's another attack?"

"_Nagisa, Yuri-san, and Ako fought Valdez in the bank of the river, while Miki-san, Mai, Komachi-san, and Urara-san are clashing with Noise in the Clover Tower. We can see the pattern from that."_

"I see, Despariah is here too. So it's the big bosses' turn to get summoned?"

"_Either way, it's too dangerous to walk around separated. I've sent the message to all other Precures to regroup in the check point, the map should already arrive."_

"Ah, it is."

"_Go there and we'll think our next move."_

Rin closed her cell and leaned heavily against a tree. That new wasn't very pleasant when heard in this kind of situation.

**88888**

"Mana-chan and others have not finished your duty?"

Miyuki the looked up to the sky. It was no longer dark purple, only the endless blue. Remembering those times where she had to see the sky turned dark and scary, she didn't want to imagine what her new friends were going through as it would make her remembering even more.

"You know, me and my friends are just finished with ours."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. It was… scary, awful even. When we fought the Bad End Kingdom, we often see things that is so heavy and horrible, we were questioning just why we became Precures. Then, we remembered. One of our friends was in danger. And the world was nothing but barren landscape… We were the only one who can stop Pierrot."

"Aren't there many Precures-keru?" Raquel floated down to Miyuki's eye level, "Then why they aren't helping fellow Precures to fight-keru?"

"That's…" Miyuki again looked to into the sky, before smiling brightly at the fairy, "I don't know!"

Rikka, who had her ears opened since the first mention of this Gathering, could only face-fault.

"What about the talk that you're our senior?"

Miyuki could only laughed and scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

"Well, we just found out there are Precures other than us today; we still don't know many things about the legend other than our own." The pink-haired girl visibly wilted, "To be honest, I'm still not remembering many names of the senior Precures. You should, no, we should ask Ellen-chan or Rin-chan about it."

"Ah, there she is!"

The cowboy dressed girl walked into the bench, using her hat as fan against the humid late summer air. She was a little confused when all eyes now were on her, but she just smiled it off.

"Talking something behind my back?"

"Ellen-chan!" Miyuki jumped and grasped Ellen's hands. Now it turned quite weird, she couldn't suppressed the awkward grimace. "Tell us about the Precure's legend!"

"Eh? Legend…?" she rose an eyebrow, before her smile returned at full force. "Alright! Ask me whatever you want!"

"You fought in the Third Great Gathering, right? Then-"

"I didn't."

"Eh?"

"I didn't fight in the Third Gathering."

"But I thought your team was there and joined the battle?" Alice tilted her head in confusion and turned to Miyuki, "Right?"

"Yes, yes! I heard that from Hibiki-chan herself, Suite team was there in the Third Gathering."

"Yes, the team was there, when there was only Hibiki and Kanade." Ellen's smile turned into a slightly sad, nostalgic one.

"But my story is not something that you want to hear, right? This is my first Gathering too, actually. But I've heard about the other teams from Hibiki and Kanade and joined the outings; I knew what the Gathering is even though I've never attend before." She sighed, almost sounded like a snort. "So, what do you want to hear?"

"What's the Great Gathering?" Aguri was to the point at this. The combination of both curiosity and envy at being locked out of the loop made her a little miffed.

"The Great Gathering is an emergency call for the Precures. When the world is in danger of the ultimate evil, the call is made and the Precures are gathered to fight against the threat. The theory of it already existed since the very first Cures were blessed with their power, but there's no threat that need more than one team of Precure until the First Gathering, when Fusion searched for the Infinity's power."

"Are you telling me that the Fall of Trump Kingdom was something less important to you?" Makoto suddenly shouted back at her hotly. Mana quickly put her hands on her shoulders to calm her down.

"Makopi…"

But even with such display of passion and anger, Ellen was unmoved. Her face suddenly turned stony and her lips pulled into a thin line.

"No, we can't help you unless several monarchs from whom the Precures are taking their mission allow it. It's the most important law the Precures have to follow; the Oath of Stability." Ellen sighed, preparing to tell a quite long story.

"The first Cures existed were from the Garden of Light, blessed directly by the Queen of Creation as the main protection against her antithesis, the Dark King, and his kingdom, Dusk Zone. The story about legendary warriors Precures, who fought against the force of darkness to many draws, attracted other lands to recruit their own. Soon there were too many Precures, without clear aim for their mission, and the monarchs grew smug with those power they had on beck and call."

"Don't tell me…" Miyuki covered her mouth in horror.

"Yes. A great war broke, fought by Precures against other Precures. A terrible seven days war that left many lands scarred and lives broken. The Queen was furious, she ordered every monarchs from every worlds to surrender their authority over the Precures' power, forcing them to sign the Oath and personally sealing off that power."

"Since then, there's no land, not even the Garden of Light itself, could bless the Precures with their power unless its destruction is inevitable, and because of the nature of that oath, there's no Precure that knows about the other lands' Precure unless the Gathering is called, which is never until lately. Each Precure was blessed by their power to complete a mission, a mission only they can complete. That's why we're blessed in the first place."

"So that's mean we have to fight the Selfish Kingdom on our own?"

"Yes. If we could aid you, then you don't need to be Precures since the beginning. Unless about ten monarchs of about four different lands agree to give you aid, our power is useless against your enemies." Ellen then lowered her eyes to the corner and said in a small voice, "I'm sorry."

"That's okay, Ellen-chan!" Miyuki said, beaming at her, "I'm glad that we at least can know about each other."

"Still, it's such a shock. There are uh… there are how many of us anyway?" Rikka was even more curious after hearing it. Maybe there's someone she had heard about within the rank of the Precures.

"Including you? Then, there are 31 of us. There are some non-Cure allies like Shiny Luminous and Milky Rose, the Great Heart Tree has one retired Cures and the Land of Fountains has two more warriors that exhausted their power after their final battle with no recovery in sight."

"W-Wow… And here I thought, we're legendary…" Rikka sighed in exasperation.

"Ah, Rin. How is it goes?"

The redhead walked a little sluggishly, like she didn't want to. Hearing her name was called, she perked up, saluting with her hand.

"Honoka asked us to come to the Clover Tower. It seems Noise was there."

"Noise?! How could he- oh… those clones…! Unforgivable!" Rin grabbed the songstress' shoulder at this.

"Not now, Ellen." Then she faced the rest of that group, face stern. "You're going to get briefed when we arrive there."

**88888**

"5 Minutes?"

"Yes. That's how my transformation work."

Aguri clung to Cure Heart's back as they jumped on rooftops to reach the tower faster, her eyes still had some of that disbelieve, or maybe it was denial, that there were Precures beside those from Oogai. Beat only scratched the back of her head, turning her body in midair so she could see the girls behind her.

"I guess… there's always a first time for everything. I've never seen something like that before." Oogai Cures noticed something off from the way she vocalized her though. Almost like she tried to hide something.

"Are you alright? I mean, isn't five minutes too short? What if you turn back in the middle of fight?" Happy would say those word first, but with their mutual wonder at each other, it might not strange for others to ask the question first. Cure Heart only shrugged.

"We delay her transformation, so she joins in battle late."

"Ah."

Diamond was watching her fellow blue Cure the entire time. The way she threw herself into air was so easy, so light. It seemed to her that Cure Beat almost had no weight. She was both nimble and fast, her posture every time her feet dropped on the roof made her jump even longer and higher.

Looking at Cure Beat made her felt self-conscious at herself. She wasn't as strong as the rest of her teammates, and compared to Beat, she wasn't as graceful. There might be more of those people, whose standards were so far away from her, she wouldn't compare.

A loud clank of roof tiles, and they saw another leaping figure not far from them.

"Pine?"

The yellow Cure waved at them but she didn't close the distance between them. The lines of houses and buildings cleared, turning into the front garden of the tower. Cure Pine dropped on the concrete street, damping her fall by slightly changing the center of her gravity into her upper body and crouched into all four. The other Cures followed her example.

Cure Pine still didn't answer Cure Rouge's call, running without looking back. They run after her into the tower's lobby.

"Miki-chan!"

They were greeted by a horrible sight.

"Komachi-san! Urara!"

Rouge run to her own teammates, one was heavily injured while one was nothing but a grey statue. Urara looked up, seeing her friend and couldn't help but to release the waterwork. Not far from her, Mai laid face down, attended by Oogai Precures.

"She's still alive, but this injuries…" Rikka winced at the damage on the girl's body. She suspected the only reason she wasn't dead yet was because of she was a Cure.

"What is going on…?" Mana stuttered out.

"Noise…" Ellen whispered, trembling with anger, "I don't want to believe this, I don't want to believe that Noise would turn into darkness again…"

"Do you have a way to cure Komachi-san or no? He's your evil boss, right?" Rin shouted in panic, feeling up the solid stone that was her friend.

"Noise's spell can only be broken with the Melody of Happiness." Ellen then noticed Mai, who Rikka crudely bandaged with mangled remains of her jacket, "Oh, god… Saki won't like this one bit… Inori, how's Miki?"

"She's a stone too. Even her Burun is also petrified."

The yellow Cure hoisted the statue by her armpit and put her closer to the other Clover Tower casualties. From the way she was frozen, Cure Berry was slammed to the wall and turned to stone before she could recover. Pine looked up to Ellen with teary eyes.

"Can't you do something about this? You're a Majorland songstress, right?"

"Ex-songstress. It's Hummy's duty now. Not to mention needing the Legendary Score, we have to call the palace for that."

"What's going on here?"

Several people entered the scene, dressed in bright colorful costumes that showed blatantly they were Precures. Aguri widened her eyes when she saw the last Cure, a yellow Cure, who looked younger than most walked in a Precure full gears. The young girl glanced at the petrified victims, and spat.

"Noise?" Ellen only nodded at this. "Accursed Black Hole!"

"We should ask the palace for the Legendary Score."

"On it!"

The young girl waved her hand parallel against her body. The ground glowed a bright light as a magic circle materialized on the tower's floor. The light dimmed, and everyone present could see the grand hall of Majorland throne room. A circular chamber that filled with red and white and, based on the way cloud lazily moved, it was located on a high place. The chamber was packed with countless musical instrument with disembodied limbs playing themselves, with two people sat on the thrones listening to their performance.

"Papa! Mama!" the young girl shouted to the figures on the throne. Oogai's Precures rose an eyebrow at this, but when the king's eyes met with them and he stood up with an exaggerated gesture, they could only catch their jaws before it fell all way to the concrete.

"Ako! My sweet, cute little Ako!" the great man run toward the communication window, his expression was full of joy and laughter. The girl, now dubbed Ako, could only blushed at the attention.

"Papa, Mama, I need to talk with you. I, no, we need the Legendary Score."

At that moment, the queen walked toward the window with grace that was appropriate of her stature. "Why would you need it, my dear? The Melody of Happiness should not be sung at whim, you know that."

"Mama, it's emergency. Noise turned several of my friends into stone."

"Noise?!" the king roared in anger, before calming down as quickly and rubbing his beard in confusion. "But he's right here." He said as he pointed at the strange bird-like creature that was perching on his shoulder all this time. The bird chirped happily at Ako, who smiled back at him.

"Not him. Black Hole made clones of him and several other evil bosses, and now that clone turned my friends into stone."

"Black Hole…?" the king's brows furrowed, "Don't tell me you're fighting in the Great Gathering right now…"

"I'm sorry, Papa. I know I promised you to not putting myself in danger anymore, but I can't turn blind eye on this. Just like the first time with Noise, it's not only about us anymore, but also the whole world. I'm a Precure too. This is my duty."

The speech was delivered with such a strong voice and conviction, the king was taken aback at it. He looked at his wife with sad eyes, who only put a comforting hand on his shoulder, and sighed in resignation.

"Very well. I will prepare the Score, so you just need to think a way to come here."

"If only Passion's here…" Ellen whispered under her breath, before she was blinded by a familiar flash of red light. Stood on where the light was a red Cure, with winger tiara on the crown of her head and loose dress. Ellen stared at her unresponsive, before breathed out, "Speak of the devil…"

Ako took Passion's hand, "Setsuna, I need Akarun's help."

"Eh? Why is… that…?" she trailed out as she saw gray skinned Berry leaning on the wall, Pine had her eyes in tears. "I understand. I'll do my best."

"Take me to Majorland!"

"Roger!"

Another flash of red light, and the two were gone. Mana still had her jaws loose, stuttered out to Ellen.

"She's a princess?"

"Princess of Majorland, yes, a genuine article. When Lord Mephisto was brainwashed by Noise, she turned into a Precure to heal his heart."

"Unbelievable… Just what kind of people we don't have in our rank?" Rikka's brain still trying to ingest the information.

"Well, we still don't have a time traveler." Rin pointed out with a bored voice. They all shared a look, before laughing softly at the small joke.

"Remember when the Witch called us weeds for how many of us were in the Third Gathering? Fun stuff." Urara said, wincing a little when she leaned too heavily on her injury.

"And when Kintolesky gawked at us in the Fairy Park." Rin chuckled a little, "But maybe Heartcatch and Fresh Precures that got the brunt of his words; we sorta on the park's attraction meters away, after all."

"And the next Gathering will have alien joining our club." Inori giggled a little, considerably cheering up knowing her friends would be saved.

"Hey, Setsuna is an alien already. Don't be greedy." Ellen quipped, "I would rather have a delinquent as a rookie."

"Ho… brave taste, Ellen!"

Oogai Precures could only look on as their seniors laughed heartily at some inside jokes. How could they laughed at times like this? A groan, and Mai jolted out of her unconscious state with both eyes wide open.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." Miyuki smiled down to the Yuunagi Cure, "Thank God…"

"How long I was out?"

"Can't be too sure. We found you already passed out for God knows how long."

"I see…"

Mai grew silent, seemingly thinking about something.

"Where's Honoka-san?"

"Still not arrive yet!"

A voice called out from behind the glass door. A black attired girl leaned on the remains of a wall and glanced behind her shoulder. A blur run pass her, and that figure hugged Mai with such a strong grip, air knocked out of her lungs.

"Saki?"

"Oh, thank god! Mai! I'm… I'm…"

Saki openly bawled incoherently at her partner's condition. Mai only shook her head and pat Saki on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Saki, I don't know you're a crybaby-lapi!"

"Shut up!" she shouted to… her pocket, from where that small voice came and insulted her. "I'm… just glad Mai is alright…"

The black attired girl laughed.

"Really remind me of myself and Mepple."

She walked toward Mana and extended her hand as a greeting.

"You must be Precures of this district. I'm Nagisa Misumi, Cure Black. Nice to meet you."

"M-Mana Aida, Cure Heart."

Nagisa smiled down at her, at which Aguri realized just how boyish this girl was. A flash of red light, and both people walked toward the center of semicircle made of the petrified victims.

"Ellen, please…"

"I don't know if I still can do it. I'm no longer a song fairy."

"Why… don't you try first?" Ako said slowly, trying to not losing her cool. Ellen stared down to the Score, sat on the princess' open hands waiting to be taken. It reminded her of things that she didn't want to remember. But…

"I'll do it."

"Thank you, Ellen."

Ellen opened the Score, a small vine suddenly sprouted from the concrete and bloomed into a stand, where Ellen then put the Score on.

She took a deep breath and sung the Melody of Happiness.

**88888**

That was the first time they heard the Melody of Happiness. The legendary song that would bring peace and joy upon the land when sung by a correct person, the greatest healing spell ever created. The song was the one that restored the damage from Precures' fights against their adversaries into the original state, a powerful status quo that had to be repaired annually for it to keep on its strongest.

But Ellen wasn't a correct person. Redeemed from her past was not enough to erase her history as Noise's minion. Her voice wasn't as steady as the time she sung it in those years and wasn't at the Melody's right pitch, her voice matured into a more cynical drawl that was synonymous of the Minorland's traitors.

Ellen noticed this and stopped singing before her voice could scatter the Notes off from the Score, her face twisted in regret.

"As I thought… I can't sing it…"

"Ellen, don't-" Ako was interrupted immediately.

"The Melody rejects me. We have to wait for Hummy to sing the Melody on its intended purpose." That sentence spelled finality.

She wanted to say that it was fine, she wanted to comfort her friend off of her failure and encouraged her to move forward with what she had believed. But as the princess of Majorland, she was the one who most understood of what the Melody could do if it was wrongly used. Ellen was not suitable as the Melody's songstress and it wouldn't change just with mere belief.

The older Cures, understood of the politic of Majorland, could only bite their lips in both sympathy and anger, while the newer generations left confused at the sullen atmosphere.

"Siren… why are you crying?"

Ellen looked down to her lap; she didn't remember when she fell to her knees, where a small white kitten nudged her with her little paws. Blue eyes bright and at lost, staring up to her friend. The former fairy scratched the small white kitten behind her ear.

"Hey, Hummy… will you sing the Melody for me, no, for all of us?"

"Anything for you, Siren!" the white kitten answered, beaming and so full of joy.

Ellen then looked up to both Cure Melody and Rhythm. Hibiki had her arms crossed in front of her chest while Kanade had this worried look that she always had when she watched something she couldn't change the outcome.

Both were upset at this development. They knew she didn't join the latest audition because she was no longer a song fairy, but they had saw Falsetto sung the Melody of Sorrow to a great effect, and now knowing their friend couldn't sing the Melody at all without turning it into the Melody of Sorrow was greatly upsetting. Almost like the Melody rejecting their friend's attempt to change her wrong path.

Hummy run up to the stand, eyes focused on the Score, and began to sing.

Even those who had no prior experience with music could notice the difference. Ellen's song came from behind her throat, which for some reason made her voice kept in a low drawl. But Kanon City's Cures knew just what had changed her voice; all those time she summoned Negatone with her voice had damaged her vocal cord into a voice suitable for singing the Melody of Sorrow.

Hummy's voice, on the other hand, was light and had a slight bounce in every breath. It was high-pitched but not shrill, instead turning into something very majestic and inhuman, it left those who had never listened to the Melody of Happiness breathlessly shivering in awe.

The collateral damage on the tower repaired itself, any wound whether it was on the concrete floor or the injured Cures healed into its previous form, clean without trace. The petrified Cures slowly released from their stony skin, and they both took a harsh inhale of breath when they completely on flesh. Their teammates immediately hugged them in tears of joy.

"Such power…" Makoto breathed out. That kind of skill was way above her, in both the song and the voice who sung it. It was as expected, though. Even she heard about Majorland and their Melody of Happiness; every musicians in Trump Kingdom sought to be like them in skill and achievement. But it was the first time she saw its citizen in action, and she was blown away by its majesty. She still had a very long way to go, indeed.

Alice wiped her face, noticing that she cried without her own consent. From both the song and the way friends reunited from their horrible fate. There were times when she thought she and her teammates didn't have that certain bond; childhood friends would one day be separated by time after all.

She going to a different school than Mana and Rikka had slackened their time together; the daily meeting became weekly outing, the weekly outing became a monthly tea party. One day they might only meet every year, and then not at all as they grew busier with their lives.

But she could see it from these seniors of hers; their bond was strengthened by time instead of losing their connection. Fighting together, messing around together, going through thick and thin together; something she really envied. A small beat throbbing between her ribcage. She rubbed her chest in confusion.

The rest of the Cures arrived at the tower, many also came with the same disheveled look. Miyuki had another four girls and one fairy joining with her, all wearing that same orb shaped brooch on their ribbons, so Oogai Cures immediately assumed they were her team.

A tall girl with mature face walked into the center of the circle the Cures made, her dirtied silver dress made a jarring dissonance to her extremely graceful way she brought herself.

"Everyone's here?"

The rest of the Cures chorused, "Yes…" at the question. Then the tall girl noticed Oogai Cures at one corner.

"Who are you?"

"Doki Doki Precure, ma'am!" Mana stood straighter as she blurted out. The silver Cure gave her a pointed look; a little amused for some reason, but mostly in disbelieve.

"Tarte."

"Yes, Moonlight-han?" the ferret with blue muffler scurried to her shoulder.

"Is there any reason why we can't determine how many the exact number of us here?"

"Well…" the ferret scratched his cheek, "There are many reason for that… not to mention the entire fiasco with the Queen of the Garden of Light…"

"So you don't know?"

"I'm sorry. My father and the elder always hidin' things from me since the beginnin'." The ferret, Tarte, visibly slumped his shoulder at his own uselessness.

"What if we ask Cure Flower?" Passion suggested, trying to distract the older Cure from her fairy. A pink Cure with large ponytail shook her head.

"She didn't even know the Great Gathering before the Second, I doubt we can ask her about something like that."

Nagisa crossed her arms on her chest, "The point is, it's not the point. Shouldn't we just be glad that we have more of us to fight Black Hole?" she then pat Mana on her shoulder, "New team never hurts in cases like this. With our nemesis run wild in this town, I think it's fitting if we help them protecting their home."

Some nodded in agreement at this, while other skeptical.

"I don't know…" the pink Cure with ponytail mumbled, "In the Gathering when I joined, I was pretty much a hindrance…" the short Blue Cure grinned widely at this and threw her arm over her partner shoulder.

"Well, not everyone is 'the Weakest Precure in History'."

"Marine…" she whined a little. From that, Oogai's Cure assumed that the pink Cure was actually self-depreciating.

Mana then stepped forward, her face firm in a small frown. This talk about doubting her team capability was little bothering her.

"Don't worry! We'll show you that we can help!"

"Your fight with Joker is not that impressive…"

"Rin-chan!" Another pink Cure chided her teammate's dismissive words, but it did little to deter Mana.

"Definitely… the next time we fight, we're going to win!"

"That's the spirit!" Nagisa laughed at the sheer enthusiasm of her fellow Cure, "Now we have affirmed our determination, won't you introduce yourself to us?"

"Yes! My name is Mana Aida, Cure Heart! Pleased to make your acquaintance!" she then gave a small military salute.

"Ah, Rikka Hishikawa, Cure Diamond. Please guide me in the future." Rikka timidly bowed to her seniors, a little nervous when Marine whispered something into her partner ear, which earned her a gentle slap to her arm.

"My name is Alice Yotsuba, Cure Rosetta. Pleased to meet you all." Alice too bowed toward her senior.

"Woah!" a pink Cure with giant blond twintails shouted and made strange gestures, attracting the entire rank to her, "Yotsuba, as in Yotsuba Corporation, right? I can't believe this!" she then gestured toward her teammates; Berry, Pine, and Passion, "We came from Clover Town Street!"

"Ah, that town was from where my grandfather started his business. The Yotsuba Shopping District, no? I think I visited it when I was a child." Alice said as she tried to remember any memory of the town. Nothing came out, though. Must be from a time longer than she thought.

"Our neighborhood forever grateful to your family. We'll aid you in any way we can!" she then pat her own chest with her fist. A hearty and lively gesture that seemed to prevalent in the neighborhood. Alice nodded only for sake of polite manner, as she barely restrain herself from being excited. Someone who genuinely amicable, with none of the inferior intention.

Kind of reminded her of Mana.

Makoto opened her mouth to begin her introduction, when the previously wounded yellow Cure from Rin's team interrupted her.

"Makoto Kenzaki-san, right? I heard many things about you."

"Cure Sword is my name." she smiled her usual 'idol face', then she realized just with who she spoke with, "Urara Kasugano-sempai… right?"

"The last time I checked, yes." She jested a little, "I saw your performance in 'Snow White'. That's a lovely depth and concentration you had in the movie. But now I know you're a Precure, I suspect it was not just an acting, right?"

She saw through her!

"You don't have to talk about it. We understand either way." The blond reassured her.

"Aguri Madoka, Cure Ace. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

She stared at the Majorland princess, who stared back at her. For some reason, they both understood they were in a same wavelength.

Nagisa clapped her hands together.

"Now we know each other, we should discuss what we should do next with those guys of darkness."

**Chapter 2 Ends **

**88888**

The development in Doki Doki finally reach its final stage! Regina is back, folks! But as I wrote in the previous chapter, this story will take immediately after episode 31, so the entire Blood Rings plot, the movie, and Regina are not happening yet. Not that the movie really have a part; still haven't watch it yet, though I already stumbled over some spoilers.

Also Rune Factory 4 and the Rebellion Story. The game is really an improvement in any way possible from its predecessor; the story, the dungeon, the characters, also the highlight is that no empty after-marriage life. None of the characters I really dislike, and Venti is just so adorable! My wife is so adorable! My daughter is so adorable!

But then my happy little world shattered by Rebellion Story. The Magica Quartet are really worthy of Angra Mainyu; I'm still reeling from the shock even after all these weeks. It's like Disappearance all over again, but for a different reason; I can't… bring myself to watch any Precure and its sparkly world for two weeks already after how… horrible the Rebellion Story gutted that kind of setting and spilled its intestines all over the pavement. I have written the drafts of three more chapters, but I just can't write Precure for a while right now. Maybe even the direction of this fanfiction might change because not only my mind is corrupted, it corrupted my imagination with how many suffering I can bring to the Cures.

Back to the fanfiction. Still in its introductory stage, this fanfiction might take a while for Smile and Doki Doki teams to take the main focus. I hope I can do this…

But let us see Suite's subplot here. Suite Precure is one of the more divisive season of this particular franchise; I heard many stories about how troubled the production was because of the March 11th accidents, which I think it was such a waste. But I had marathon of Suite, and I think it wasn't as bad as most people will vocally say. Maybe it's just my standard or because my watch was a marathon, but Hibiki and Kanade's banters weren't falling flat in later episodes like some people vocally say, as they finally come to understand each other better. They still bicker, but in a more playful way. The development is going quite naturally for my humble opinion.

One thing that bothers me in the finale though, is why Ellen doesn't sing the Melody of Happiness herself? Even though they regained the Score, none of the Cures sung the Melody to restore Majorland from their petrification and Hummy from her coma. So let's say that this subplot, and the incoming future subplots, will discuss the fridge logic of the in-series' unconcluded plot threads and how it will hinder the usual 'Cures beat up the bad guys and save the day' business.

I would like to introduce each team's characteristics in battle in this section. It might be only implied in story proper, but 'gameplay balance' is something that make me interested to observe how each team fights in their series, so bear with me.

This chapter we have Suite Precure team, or as the fanfic will refer to, the Kanon Town Cures. Consisted of four members, their gimmick is their highly synched coordination between the members, which is ironic with how misfit they were when they started. Passionato Harmony and Session Ensemble are usable to every combinations of Cures, unlike the other teams that have to be in full team or with their respective partner to use it. Of course, it's weaker than most combination finishers, but it's fast and can even grow stronger with more Cures participating in the attack.

The Tone Ring is the signature personal attack of all the Suites; personally I think Muse also has her own version of Tone Ring because of the circling motion she makes in Sparkling Shower stock footage is very similar with the Tone Ring.

The Cures are also expert in stunning attacks and support, with Muse being the absolute master of it, as a compensation of their weaker physical endurance. They also very nimble and capable of more complex acrobatics, making their main strategy to outmaneuver their opponents with technique and teamwork. The reason for this is because Suite Cures are very lean compare to most other Cures. I know it's just artistic direction of the season, but I think it's interesting to see the difference of strength from physical proportion and other things.

See you again in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Deep inside the darkness, a row of people stood. They might look humanoid, but they were not even close to the definition of human. Eyes red and glowing with malice, they waited for their master to address them.

Another pair of eyes, larger than any of those people, emerged from the darkness, seemingly floating in the middle of endless black. A creature, the owner of said eyes, looked quite pleased with the lineup it had ensemble. The avatars of darkness weren't flinched when that creature let out a low, rumbling laugh.

"**Excellent show you made out there, gentlemen."** It stopped before quickly adding, **"And lady."** The sole female of the lineup nodded in acknowledgement, **"Now the Precures had thrown into panic over our appearance, they surely will start to run a wild goose chase after our presumed target."**

"For legendary warriors, they surely do really bad job to keep us away from their charge." The harlequin chuckled, "We should let them to keep running around like headless chicken for a little bit more."

"That's a poor decision. They might notice our movement and seek to stop us before we can even locate our goal." A large green humanoid said, his voice was deceptively soft and polite, "They're not the only one who don't know about the location of the Shield."

"What's the matter, Gohyan? Are you speaking from experience?" Joker scoffed at him, which earned him a glare from the Dark Fall overlord.

"I agree with Gohyan. It's better if we're hurry with our search." A blond man in purple robe crossed his arms and threw a disgusted glance at the Bad End Kingdom prince. The idea of letting his enemies to find the valuable before him sickened him like nothing else.

"**Our goal is to find the Heart and release the Queen of Witches, darkness of the purest form. Only by absorbing her power, we can bring about eternal despair and darkness to the entire universe! And nothing the Precures can do to reverse it!"**

The ensemble shared a hearty and crazed laugh. With their mind filled with nothing but evil that could make even their original form shame, they went to the human world to seek their treasure.

**88888**

"Ring of Fortune?"

Honoka Yukishiro let out a small sound of skepticism. Setsuna only nodded at her doubting comrade.

"Yes. According to Lord Moebius' data, it was an artifact of great power. An artifact once owned by the Queen of Witch in her quest to destroy her enemies and create her empire. She conquered many worlds with the ring's power and became a goddess unmatched by anyone."

"Then why she no longer here now?" Karen was interested with the lore since Setsuna talked about a woman overlord, a rare case in the between of hulking and musclebound males that invade the ranks of their enemies. But then, something tickled her realization, "Or maybe she…"

"Yes, she's still alive, along with the ring. In fact, she_ is_ the ring, if these data can be trusted. She carved her own soul into the ring and made herself immortal. It's just her enemies found a loophole to defeat her by that fact. They sealed both her physical body and the ring into different corners of the universe, preventing her to move and use her power."

"And the ring is here?"

"Yes, somewhere in the region where Oogai city was built on."

"Do you know where it is?"

"Unfortunately no. when Lord Moebius self-destructed, he also destroyed every single of the archive. I just remember this particular information when I asked him why we didn't go after it." Setsuna then bit her lower lip, "We must not let them to get that ring. It has power to control everything that its owner wants; time, space, fate, everything magic has hand on."

"Coco? By that, do you mean the ring is the Heart of Hope then-coco?"

"Heart of Hope?"

"Ah, I heard it too-de gozaru! When my mother told me a bedtime story about the warriors of magic long before the Precures, she told me about this Heart. The source of magic for this entire tribe of woman warlords-de gozaru… Led by someone known as the Queen of Witches, they conquered many worlds and taught them how to use magic, some even say that they also created the worlds in the first place- de gozaru!"

Pop exclaimed with uncharacteristically passion. When he noticed his charges stared at him with raised eyebrow, he coughed into his fist and continued with calmer voice.

"The point is, we can't let the force of darkness have the Heart-de gozaru. There's a reason why there's no one had ever get their hands on it. The power is so enormous that anyone who ever touch it, which means everyone close enough to it, will be destroyed with their own new power-de gozaru. But if it's Black Hole, then it might not a problem-de gozaru…"

"Many artifacts that you used in past came from the Heart-mipo." Mipple popped out from her case, her face twisted with worry, "The Rainbow Jewel, the Great Sandhour of the Land of Clock, the Heart Tree, and many others confirmed were born from the Heart-mipo."

The Cures gasped, including the newcomers. Had been briefed with the summary of previous Gatherings, they knew just what those artifacts can do to the world.

"Such incredible power…"

"Even for our standard, that's sounds like a fairytale."

"But if we find the ring, then what we should do with it? We can't exactly use or protect it if we can't even coming close." Karen mulled over it. For some reason, the entire story sounded too shady for her, "Should we just go defeat Black Hole and its lackeys and be done with it?"

"The existence of the Heart is absolute, so it's not like we have many choice-coco."

"…Nozomi?" Rin had turned to her left and found her longtime friend seemed to think about something. Nozomi, thinking? Unbelievable!

"I wonder… if the Queen is alright, all alone..."

"Nozomi…?"

"Rin-chan, I know it sounds crazy, but I want to meet her." She breathed out with slight melancholy, "It's decided…"

She said the last line with none of her usual energy. It made her teammates worried. Nozomi without energy was the same as chocolate parfait without chocolate, a simile without analogy. Urara hugged the older girl's arm, giving her a silent support. Nozomi finally smiled at the attempt to cheer her up.

"Knowing that, it's better if we don't make contact with the Heart." Yuri calmly said, a notion that had every Palmier and the Garden of Light representatives' agreement, "We'll find another way to make contact with the Queen, but our focus now is to defeat Black Hole."

Mana silently watched the entire meeting, trying to make sense of this entire mission. Suddenly thrown into the hectic situation where she had no control of made her felt naked.

"Um…" she muttered out while raising her hand, trying to ask for permission to speak, "I don't know about 'defeating Black Hole' part. I mean, the last time you fought it, you had to make a sacrifice that only nullified because of an outside power."

"She's right-natsu." Natts crossed his arms, looking down and frowning, "We might get stronger, but Black Hole also already absorbed other evil bosses' evil energy-natsu. I don't think we can neglect to search for the Heart-natsu, as the reason why we always resorted on the Miracle Light was because we always failed to prevent enemy's goal-natsu."

"Then, what should we do? Dividing our attention to two goals are quite difficult task; with us already struggling against the bad guys in fight, we can't exactly risk some of us to get pummeled in a wild goose chase like this."

The two Palmier kings shared a worried look as their most intelligent of their charges pointed out the most visible flaw of the plan. Of course they had expected Karen to do something like this, but they could not say they had the solution.

The way everyone suddenly driven into silent, a certain blue Cure looked around, fidgeting and boiling of exasperated anger, before shrieking something unintelligible with a boisterous punch to the air.

"What the heck is wrong with you guys?! Are you forgetting why we always go through after all those bad guys had thrown at us? If we do nothing, we can't have what we're after! Why we became Precures in the first place, huh? Because we agreed to risk our neck to do things so dangerous, our parents might never let us out of our room if they know!"

"Erika…" Tsubomi muttered with both awe at the speech and exasperation from that last analogy. In background, Yuri facepalmed.

"We got no time to sit here and worrying over a broken nail; we have to go out there and kick some ass, while looking pretty at it! Because we're the 14 year old super-heroines Pretty Cure!"

Again, she left her compatriots speechless at the slight bizarre motivational goading.

"That…" Akane then stopped herself and though for a moment, "That's actually pretty clever; we _are_ magical girls and bein' pretty is in the contract. Though I still want to protest with the whole '14 year old' stuff."

"Bah! You protest only for sake of protesting!" the blue Cure said as she puffed her cheeks.

"Aren't you, especially you Erika, completely missing the entire point of your own speech?" Miki sighed, "But still… she's right. We have to search for the Heart before those guys get their hands on it."

"But smaller groups might not enough against those monsters. What if they pick us one by one while we're searching?"

"We'll do our best to support you-natsu." The young king then swept his hand. In a flash of light, a small device materialized on each of the Cures' hand. "This is Linked Pod-natsu. A poor man's substitute of Akarun's power; thank you for your permission, Setsuna," the Cure only waved her hand in humble dismissive, "It will warn you of the threat, and will automatically teleport you to the closest threat point from your initial location-natsu."

"Woah…!"

"Is there any reason why you didn't just say you have portable teleportation pod in your disposal when we were arguing several moments ago?" Honoka asked with genuine curiosity. Natts was not the kind of person who will hide something if there wasn't any logical cause.

The young king's face turned slightly worried as the veteran Cure had saw through his mask.

"The energy needed to make the teleportation was enormous-natsu. First tests left our volunteers drained of their strength with just one use-natsu. If it was you who use it, the cost might not be as large as us fairies, but if you have immediately fight…" Natts shook his head. "What's clear is this device might be dangerous even for you-natsu…"

"Nats…" Coco put his hand on his friend's shoulder, gave a slight comforting sqeeze. "Believe in the

Precure like we always was-coco! They will be fine-coco!"

"That's right! Just leave this to us!" Akane boisterously declared.

"We have through a lot, surely another eldritch knocking at our doorsteps won't be worse than the usual stuff happening to us." Komachi nodded toward Natts with a smile. The king still had a slight doubt, but was mostly dispersed already.

"So…! Searching for the Heart of Hope, begins now!" Coco punched his hand to the air, a gesture that the rest of the fairies and the Cures shared the enthusiasm of.

**88888**

"Even though we're deciding on this, we still don't know where to search…"

Akane heavily threw her entire weight into the park bench, slouching downward almost immediately. The rest of her companion followed her example and took their own seats.

After the briefing, the Cures were divided into teams made of teams from two different district. Name taken from inside a hat, a top hat that Urara somehow had in her person, and from that the teams were determined. Yuunagi district Cures with Palmier's guardians, Emissaries of Light with Kanon Town's, Clover Town's with Cure Flower's disciples. Miyuki was slightly pleased with her result, Oogai team tickled her interest.

They had walked around the more crowded part of the city, looking for some sort of clue. Which they found none. They actually had given up since the last five blocks, and now more concerned with their conversation. They talked about their lives, their respective Precure adventure, and their worries over the entire matter with the Great Gathering.

"Of all teams, which is the longest of being Precures?" Aguri asked almost absent-mindedly.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken Nagisa-san and Nozomi-san started about two and half years ago, and had their fight for the entire two years before the First Great Gathering was called." Reika tried her best to remember. The seniors' adventures were only came in some footnotes as now they had something more urgent to have their minds on. "Then Saki-san and Mai-san had their call in late winter in the same time as Nagisa-san and Nozomi-san had their second call, and fought to the next year's spring. The First Gathering was called when Love-san and her team was just chosen in summer, but Setsuna-san didn't join until the Second Gathering."

"Why is that?" Rikka somehow had a gist of it, but then Nao had her speculation answered.

"She was still an enemy's general."

"How many of the Precures were enemy's general anyway?"

"We have Setsuna and Ellen. I heard Saki and Mai convinced two of their enemies to join the Cures' rank, but they strained their power so much in the final battle, they ended up unable to transform to this day. With no sign of regaining that power anytime soon too."

Akane also tried to remember the passing stories about the Dark Fall twins, but nothing came up other than those. She shrugged in surrender, her mind was in somewhere else at the moment.

Mana was listening every words came out of her seniors' mouth. The way that both Setsuna and Ellen had mingled among the other girls made them invisible from the possible suspicion that they were enemies. She wondered whether she could do the same with Regina, convince her to abandon the Selfish Kingdom and join the rank of the Cures.

But she was still so far away, and she was powerless to change it. King Selfish's grip on her was so strong, simply beating him and Regina might not enough if blood really run thicker than water. In fact, Regina might go even more berserk to avenge her father.

Then something, someone, seemed to flash inside her mind. Like a glimpse of a silhouette from across the street, only visible from the between of speeding cars.

From the way everyone else seemed to suddenly jerk awake from their personal daydreaming, Mana was suspicious that it was not just her who saw it.

A black cat. A small black cat sitting, no, floating with its backside flat against thin air, in front of them. It was small, a kitten; its whiskers was as black as its fur and its eyes were deep purple. But the thing that gathered their attention the most was the long, thin and jagged scar on its chest, running down the entire length of its torso.

Surgical stitches?" Rikka unconsciously mouthed.

The cat stared at them, its eyes unblinking and its form unmoving. Miyuki gulped down her saliva in nervousness and awkwardly greeted the seemingly ghost of a cat.

"H-Hello?"

The cat was still unresponsive. Miyuki tried to touch the visage and felt a solid cold glass. She jerked awake and tilted her head in confusion. In front of her was an antique shop; the glass was the pane of its front display. The rest of companions trailed behind her, looking from behind her shoulder to see the display.

A small ring, dull silver in coloration, with a small purple gem encrusted on its middle. Even though it looked simple, if one strained their eyes to see it, they could catch black lines decorating it almost like a tribal tattoo. Something was written on its bottom, but difficult to see with the ring's velvet cushion.

"…What is this?"

"… Don't tell me… this is the Ring of Fortune?" Alice rubbing her chin, unsure. "It doesn't look like some kind of legendary artifact."

"Do you, dear young ladies, interested with something in this humble shop?"

They looked up. An elderly man smiled widely, his eyes were shut in a playful nuance his smile came across as. Alice looked back into the buckler and swept the tip of her fingers on the display.

"Please, sir. Can you tell us about this shield? We want to make sure of something."

"Is that so? Well then, I will tell you what I heard about this old buckler. I received this ring from one of the stone miners when I was just a boy. He said he dug it while back, and it urged him to give it to me."

"Urged?"

"Yes, it was a strange occurrence, but believe me; this ring was alive. And when the miner gave it to me, I saw its spirit right then and there. A horrifying monster, a gigantic white snake with dozens of heads, mouths full of rows of crocodile teeth! I almost threw that shield away when I heard its spoke."

"_Do not fear…"_

"That voice was soft, slightly emotionless but there was some strain in its exhale. I looked down into the shield again, meeting the spirit. It was as horrifying as before, but then I saw again. Its eyes… I never saw eyes more beautiful than those. They weren't eyes of a snake; more like mine own mother's."

"Does the spirit ever told you about itself?" Rikka prided herself as a logical person, and this talk about spirits were not sitting well for her. The old man shook his head.

"It said that her life was something that I shouldn't be curious of. I've tried to throw it away but then I realized that it often guiding me through things that I though impossible. It's very wise, a bit mischievous and loves to make fun of me while still being as deadpan as ever. Before I realized, I grew attached to it."

"Then why you're selling it now?"

"It stopped talking for a decade already. I don't know what does it mean, but I think it realized that I no longer need it. Without the spirit, it's only gathering dust somewhere in my house. I've tried to treat it better, I don't think I can pamper it like I used to."

The old man then realized just how long he rambled and apologized to the girls. Mana reassured him that it was okay.

Mana wanted to say how ungrateful he was for abandoning someone (something?) that already went through thick and thin with him after it was no longer useful to him. But she held her tongue; this might be the thing that they were after. Upsetting the owner might destroying their chance to get their hands on the Heart.

She stole glance at Alice, who nodded at her.

"That's a very interesting story, sir. May we see it a little closer? Maybe we can make sure it's really something that we're been looking for that way."

"Of course."

The shop owner opened the display and took the ring out. Its white iron absorbed the sunlight until there was none of it reflected even on its smooth surface, almost like it rejected the light from shining on it. Mana suddenly felt that her body grew heavier every second the shop owner pulled the ring out of its glass cage, until she was difficult to take a breath.

"Mana-chan…"

Miyuki called out her fellow pink Cure, who also had that strangled labor just to inhale air. Mana turned and found Miyuki was almost blue from choking; as with the other Cures.

"What the…!" Akane didn't finish her sentence when she saw Yayoi slumped on her shoulder, passed out from lack of air.

"Put it back inside!" Makoto shouted at the scared old man, who saw his potential costumers slowly strangled to death without him knowing what was going on. He then put the ring back inside the display, only then the girls could breathe freely.

"What…" Aguri gulped down the saliva that almost escaped her lips, "Is going on?"

"It looks like the story about the ring is true…" Alice too, gulped her saliva, though slightly less obvious, "But it looks like we have to buy the case too…"

**88888**

Yotsuba mansion became their main base, chosen for the simple fact it was large enough to take more than 25 people together in one room. Honoka stared inside the glass display with attentive curiosity, taking every single detail as she listened to Miyuki telling what happened to them.

"Really scary, that power…" Tarte was sitting cross-legged in front of the ring, rubbing his chin in attempt to look sagely. "Maybe it's really dangerous to keep it under our watch when we can't even get near without feelin' nauseated."

"We should talk to her."

"Hold your horse, Nozomi-san." Urara said as she nervously glanced at Karen and Komachi for some support, "We don't know whether the Queen of Witches is good or evil."

"Urara-san's right. What if she manipulates you to do questionable things?" Komachi who immediately caught Urara's message, quickly added her two cents.

"Well then we can just use 'that'."

Everyone now stared at Erika like she grown a second head. Now noticing the attention, she only rose an eyebrow.

"What?"

"What Erika means here," Itsuki interjected to rescue everyone from further confusion, "Is that we use Heartcatch Mirage to see the Queen's Heart Flower."

"Heart Flower?" Reika perked at this.

"The Heart Flower is the representative of the soul, showing what kind of personality that soul has." Tsubomi tried to explain as best as she can. "So if the ring was made from the Queen's soul, then we can see her Heart Flower and determine what the best course action we should take."

"Ah, I see. By the language of flower, isn't it?" Reika nodded in understanding. She might not an expert ikebana, but she still had a general knowledge of the traditional art. Tsubomi smiled at her in return.

"Yes, but there's more. If that Heart Flower wilts, then we should be careful with her. Heart Flower wilting is a symbol of that heart is in chaos and strife, and said soul will more prone of violent outburst. We need to think carefully before we want to speak to the Queen if so."

With everyone understood what she said, Tsubomi summoned the Heartcatch Mirage from the Precure Palace. The Palace's countless guardians were singing their praises and protection to the artifact, their voice carried to the Precures' ears as a flash of light signaling the mirror's arrival.

"Bloom with pride, o power of flower…"

Tsubomi whispered softly to the mirror, fingers pushing the buttons in a certain combination. Heartcatch Mirage shined brightly at the chant, blinding everyone in the room.

The light dimmed, but many still couldn't see the flower reflected in the mirror. Those farther on the back saw it, slightly protected from the most of the blinding light, and tilted their head in confusion at the bizarre flower. Red, pin-like petals made up the entire flower like a tight group of needles on a pincushion. No one could identified the flower except…

"A red spider lily?" Saki was confused for a whole different reason.

Tsubomi tried to see through the light as soon as her eyes could adapt, but what she saw wasn't very reassuring. The vision of the Heart Flower was replaced, or rather it was concealed, by darkness the ring seemed to spew out. A darkness in form of the ring that absorbed every form of light that initially flood the room, until there was no light reflected on the smooth surface.

"It consciously tries to prevent us from seeing…" Yuri mused out loud, leaning over the glass case where the artifact innocently rested. Almost felt like it was taunting them.

"I saw the Heart Flower," Saki immediately shrunk when the combined intense glare of Kibougahana's Cures pointed at her, "Well… I think?"

"What is it? Anything you saw is fine!"

"A red spider lily, just like those in funerals ceremonies."

"The symbol of eternal separation to the loved ones…" Tsubomi whispered out. Of all possible flowers, red spider lily was the one flower which meaning she disliked the most. Unlike erica or primrose, higanbana offered no potential or chance of happiness toward its bearer. She could only feel relieved that Heart Flower was so rare, she had never saw one before.

"It's not only about eternal separation." Yuri immediately interjected, "Remember the legend of Sanzu River, from where the flower got its name? In Buddhist simile, one shore is of ignorance while another is of enlightment, with crossing to another side as the path toward enlightment. But in Japanese legend, it is closer to separation because of the death of the loved one."

Kibougahana's Cures winced at this.

"Saki-san, can you describe the Heart Flower more?" Tsubomi turned to said Cure, who tilted her head in slight cluelessness.

"Eh? It think it looks pretty ordinary."

"I mean, if the flower wilts or not."

"Oh! Uhm… well, I don't think so." She tried to remember as much as she could, "The petals were so thin, I don't think I saw it if it's true."

"Saki."

Mai tapped her shoulder and whispered something to her ears. Saki immediately brightened and excitedly spoke, "Oh! It looks like my mother's jelly in the Saturday special! The same nice shade and all!" Mai then nodded at this.

"She said it hasn't wilting at all."

That respond from the artist left the rest clueless just how she could made such conclusion.

"What is…?"

A loud blare of alarm, along with that red highlight flooding into the entire room, sent the Cures into their battle instinct. Alice nodded to Sebastian, who for the entire briefing was silently standing almost unnoticed by everyone. He pressed a button on a remote and the great screen at one end of the room switched on.

A nightmare, it was the only thing they saw in the screen.

A great, towering man turned his head slightly to stare at the surveillance camera, his lips twisted into a sadistic smirk. As pale as a ghost, clashing horribly with his long red robe and midnight-like hair.

"Get down here, Precures… Or you might be too late to save these insignificant pests."

He shook a Yotsuba servant in his grip, his palm covering the poor girl's entire head. The maid's body shagged limply like a rag doll as he did so. Behind him, broken bodies of Yotsuba mansion's servants littering the front yard.

Alice was shaking with potent rage.

**Chapter 3 Ends**

**88888**

I really like to where Doki Doki's development goes. The entire build up to the finale is going along to the direction that I thought it would; the foreshadowing of Aguri and Ange's relationship, Regina's redemption, and don't forget the Cure's ability in hand to hand combat also improve significantly since the last power up episode. This week's and previous episodes also great in term of shared spotlight. Makoto interacts with Regina outside the manga is welcomed, Aguri having flashback between King Selfish and Ange is brick-walling the theory, and, I know it's not very important, but King Selfish having a face unlike the Dark King really riles me up.

I'm excited for the finale, already!

Another chapter done, with the sheer amount of infodump along the way. Infodump everywhere! When I started writing this chapter, I don't think it will turn out like this. Too fast for my liking. But for some reason, it just flows like that. Since there are many sides, or should I say world-building, that will be unravel, I don't think gradual revelation of the world-building will do good to the pacing of the story. On the other hand, rushing the things also make things feel abrupt.

Let's start from the simplest and most basic aspect of every story; the timeline. More exactly, when every season happens in-universe. Year 1 is 2004, and so on and so forth.

Year 1, Summer: Futari wa and Precure5 start

Year 1, Winter: Splash Star starts

Year 2, Spring: Futari wa and Precure5 end

Year 2, Summer: Max Heart and Go Go start

Year 3, Spring: Max Heart, Splash Star, and Go Go end

Year 3, Summer: Fresh starts

Year 3, Autumn: Heartcatch starts

Year 3, Winter: Fresh ends

Year 4, Spring: Heartcatch ends, Suite starts

Year 4, Auturm: Smile and Doki Doki start

Year 4 Winter: Suite and Smile end

Year 5 Summer: This fanfiction starts

So, when Reika said that Nagisa and Nozomi co are fighting their season 2,5 years ago, she was wrong. This timeline isn't really following the season's broadcast duration, but more of the season's in-story episodes. Like how Fresh rarely got holiday episodes or how Splash Star seemed to go from Spring to another Spring, so I made assumption some seasons weren't going for a full year while others goes even longer.

Now the Cures got their hands on the McGuffin, but with the villains kicking at their doorsteps, killin' their dudes (well, beating up to be precise). What will they do now? Doki Doki Precure will see with their own eyes why Black Hole is the ultimate enemy of the Precures, with Precure's worst Big Bad laid waste on everything they hold dear!

I'll see you in the next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

Valdez was the strongest of the strongest warriors of Dusk Zone.

Born when the Dark King was defeated by the Emissaries of Light and the Seeds of Darkness's betrayal, he was quickly establishing himself as one of the Four Kings of Dusk Zone. Even though he was the Dark King's Heart, he rose into the Northern Throne because of his own strength, his own power, and became the leader of the Four.

Circulas once said that as brothers born from darkness, they should look for each other's back while trying to revive the King. He wasn't really listening at that time, thinking that the blond warrior was as insignificant as others when he inherits his birthright. He, in previous life, killed a subordinate just because of he was in the way; whether Circulas, Uraganos, and Viblis' life in danger or no, it was none of his concern.

But then, he found out they weren't that bad of companions.

The endless darkness was lonely and cold, but it never really bothered him until they sat on that table and shared a strawberry cake. When they were gone, his heart suddenly throbbed painfully. The other Kings, sacrificing their lives to hinder the Precure from reaching him and disturbing his coronation. For the first time in his many lives, he felt sympathy for the Seeds of Darkness. Or rather, their steadfast loyalty to each other.

'Dusk Zone shall become the place of free will… Full of destruction, but free.'

He said that to himself. If he wins the last clash against the Cures, he shall revive his subjects from their fate and let them go with their lives. The Queen was right; they aren't so different.

But nothing was matter for Valdez anymore. Defeated and slain, only his own vileness remained in Black Hole's core, and that same vileness was the only thing revived by it. He was nothing but destruction incarnate, almost mindless and wild.

His will now was Black Hole's will.

He let go the girl's head, welcoming his adversaries with a bloodthirsty smile.

"Have at you, Precures!"

He charged forward before the Legendary Warriors declared their intention to stop him. Nothing mattered, nobody mattered anymore.

Cure Rosetta met him head on, leaving her team behind to extract her revenge. She knew she wasn't thinking straight, but she couldn't help it.

Herself wasn't matter anymore.

Fierce flurry of punches and kicks were not like how Oogai Cures had ever seen before. Their dear friend was unrecognizable, what left of her was that angry beast snapping her leash and wailing at her adversary.

"This is bad… she won't make it!" Cure Black dashed pass the still stunned rank of the Cures.

Rosetta met each punch with her own, mind numb and blank. Suddenly, her arm gave out as it clashed with Valdez's, letting out a sickening crunch of broken bones as it bended in an unnatural way. She widened her eyes, her arm pushed aside and left her open to the incoming strike.

Black roared as she pulled back her fist and held Valdez back with her punch. Shockwave that ensued as the two pushed each other sent everyone on their feet.

"Eat this! Marine Dive!"

A boisterous voice shouted from above, small body flew across the garden and zipped down to the combatants, heel first. The kick connected to Valdez's head, but the great man was barely moved by the strike that could destroy an entire platform of the Planet Palace. Marine cursed.

The Dark King had enough. He pushed Cure Black back with another punch, the strike followed by a harsh wind as sharp as razors. Black took Rosetta by the back of her dress, jumping away before they could be blown away. Marine wasn't as lucky, sent flying to the treetops at another end of the front garden.

This display of power prompting the rest of the Cures to confront the invader.

The rest of Oogai Cures and one loyal butler edged closer to the windowsill, wanting to join the fight just to help their friend.

"It's her own fault, you know?"

Mana whirled around to meet the one who said that snide comment. Ako Shirabe met her furious gaze with her own dispassionate one.

"Why is that?" the pink Cure challenged the young princess, which she barely acknowledged.

Ako calmly walked to her right and peered out of the window.

"She doesn't need to go down there and get herself injured; Valdez is _the _strongest warrior possible in the side of evil, fighting him head on is suicide." She then glanced by the edge of her eyes, "Have you not notice that those who confront him out there are those with matching physical prowess and experience?"

Rikka looked back to the remaining Cures guarding the shield and widened her eyes. At the first glance, it looked like some random choices thrown into the table, but then she saw a pattern. Those who fight in the front were those from older generations; where the Cures were very dependent on partnership and close quarter combat, and those who were very eager to get their hands dirty like Marine and Sunshine.

The main muscles in the rank.

But she couldn't get her head wrapped on why Cure Beauty fighting in the front line with Cure Happy instead of the seemingly right hand woman, Cure Sunny. Akane, could seemingly deciphered her thought, leaned on the windowsill and spoke barely a whisper.

"In our team, Reika is the strongest after Miyuki, and maybe the most competent. Honoka-san already had our information written down when our team got our call, you can trust her judgment."

"Jumping into the fight alone is never save for us, but the damage is already done; Rosetta might be out of commission for some time after this." Setsuna concluded, "If it keeps going like this… then we might be in danger."

The Oogai Cures shared a glance between themselves. They wanted to go down there and help their friend; but there was a reason why their seniors stopped them before they followed Alice charging blindly to their enemy.

Valdez was just a distraction.

With the kind of people who now serving Black Hole, mere muscle was meaningless in grand scheme of things. Not only strong, but also cunning and sly; those kind of people made up most of the Black Hole's Avatars. They had expected Valdez to gain so much attention knowing that Wakabadai Cures to have warned their comrades of the threat, and then for someone to sneak behind the defense line and pillage the ring.

And so, when Joker and Moebius appeared in front of the remaining Cures, Karen stood from her seat unimpressed, already transforming and had her Fleuret brandished.

"Gentlemen, welcome in the Yotsuba Residency."

But both Avatar of Black Hole didn't seem to be bothered by the intimidating amount of Cures present in front of them, only smirking slightly at the girls like they had predicted the entire speed chess.

**88888**

Alice opened her eyes, but she couldn't see anything but darkness. Alone and cold, fear quickly gripped her heart like nothing other.

"_Greeting…"_

Someone breathed out. Alice was looking for the source of the voice, but she couldn't see anything but the same static darkness. She sat saddle-sided on some invisible ground, staring at nothing in particular.

"W-Who… Who are you…?"

Her voice drowned as fast as it came out, unlike the disembodied one she heard. Said voice chuckled at her confusion, the throaty laugh that echoed like it came from everywhere. A female voice, flat and emotionless, betraying nothing of its identity.

"_Maybe I'm what you called… the Queen of Witch…"_

"I see…" the Yotsuba heir voiced the meaningless phrase; meaningless for her, at least. She might not able to say the same with the voice, the Queen of Witch. Said Queen, Alice couldn't see her, but she had a feeling she'd been watched from everywhere.

"Where am I?"

"_A realm between conscious and unconscious, where the true selves reside and mingle into one great unconsciousness. The Sea of the Souls…" _Alice then noticed one thing; even though it was emotionless, but it was for some reason warm, wise, and nurturing. The shop owner also said the same. _"I suppose… you already heard about me?"_

"Yes… but I was wondering, why am I here?"

"_You tell me."_

"What do you mean…?"

"_Why do you here, Alice Yotsuba? Not everyone could just barge in to my realm. As I said, this is the Sea of the Souls, where the true selves reside…"_

"Am I… wishing for my true self?"

"_Are you, Alice Yotsuba?"_

Then she remembered; her people were beaten half death by this… monster, while she couldn't prevent it. Just like the time with Sebastian, just like the times where she couldn't hold out her shield to protect her friends. Her Grandfather spoke of the true potential within her, but she couldn't see it. Potential to be strong, potential to be able to protect, potential to be a defender of justice.

"I do… I wish to see it, my true self!"

"_Behold…"_

Again, the voice breathed out. She felt a shiver went down her spine, as light begun to flood into her line of sight.

Then she held her head. What is this?! What is this?! Just as she caught the sight of that great towering figure of Valdez, her head filled with things that she didn't know existed within her. Hatred, anger, bloodlust. Then she saw her fellow Cures, then she thought of something entirely different. Envy, inferiority, desire to be more…

Cure White glanced over her shoulder when she heard Mipple yelped in both fright and surprise. She widened her eyes when she saw the blasphemous visage of Cure Rosetta.

"Impossible…!"

Both battle stopped in their track, stared in disbelieve as Rosetta limply stalked forward.

"It can't be-sharu!" Charle shouted, her voice trembled by horror.

"Rosetta turns into a Jikochu-dabi?! But then, what of Lance-dabi?!"

"Wha-! But how…" Cure Heart didn't want to confirm it, but yet she turned to see if it was true. Her eyes widened like never before. The shield expelled the same purple haze as the Servants of Darkness, and the haze encircled Alice like a coiling snake.

"It can't be…" the same had happened to Regina.

"It can't be…" Rosetta raised her hand toward the Dark King without any trace of fear.

"It can't be…" A Rosetta Reflection materialized, larger and denser than anything they had saw before.

"ALICE!"

Cure Heart jumped out of the window, breaking through the glass but she paid it no mind. She burst out of the mansion just as Rosetta sent her shield ripping through the front yard like a bulldozer. The Cures jumped away before the attack hit them, but Valdez reached too late and caught the brunt of the damage. Both the shield and Valdez flew through the vast yard and hit the wall surrounding the Yotsuba Residence, it collapsed by both weight and sheer force of the strike.

But Cure Heart paid it no mind.

She landed on the front yard with a heavy thud. Walking closer, and closer, and closer until their distance was only an arm width. Rosetta stood with her back on Cure Heart, her presence was suffocating. The pink Cure raised a hand to reach for her friend, but for some reason she had no guts to actually touch her. So near, yet so far away.

Her mind still as in discord as before, but her action was more calm and calculated than the truth actually was. Alice saw through her memories, where she shared it with her dear friends. Good memories, bad memories, forgotten memories. Things that she was envied, that she felt she was lacking, before she realized that she liked having those memories. Her life was the memories of what she had.

Bad things, good things, it was all hers. Then she realized, in amidst of dark thoughts she had, she felt warmth. Family and friends, happiness and laughter. She who felt inferior and envy, and she who wanted to protect and nurture; they were all her.

"_Alice Yotsuba, who adores her friends and family so much she doesn't want anyone to harm them. Alice Yotsuba, who resents the fact that she cannot go to the same school as Mana Aida and Rikka Hishikawa. Alice Yotsuba, who secretly greedy of the danger the Precures have to go through just so she can spend more time with her friends."_

"That is my true self…?" she still had a hard time to believe that.

"_Anger and envy are not weaknesses; it was losing control of those feeling that will be the death of you. Anyone with strength is powerless when they are slaves to their own strength. When one's heart is in harmony with their common sense, the strength was unmatched."_

"Control… harmony…?"

Rosetta raised her hand toward Valdez, her consciousness focused its hatred on the one who harmed her people.

She felt strength flooding into her, and she materialized her shield in front of her. It was larger and denser than it usually was, the shield was imbued by her feeling to protect and to destroy.

"Precure… Rosetta Reflection…!"

She could predict what would happen next; her shield shot out like bullet toward her target, anchored to stop by the damage her fellow Cures had brought upon him. Her comrades would jump out of the way, while Valdez struck down.

She didn't need to see it herself; she turned and gave Cure Heart a warm smile.

"Mana-chan… I'm so glad…"

Everyone was left speechless of the display. The strongest warrior of Black Hole… was felled by a single strike.

"Is this… the true power of darkness…?" Moebius was at loss of words, "Inconceivable…! There's no evil in it…!"

"The power of darkness was not like how we had predicted," Joker whispered to his fellow avatar, "The situation might go even more dangerous for us. Better pulling back before they gather their wit and purify us earlier than the plan."

Moebius wordlessly nodded and they teleported to where Valdez laid face down on the ruin. They both took hold of the Dark King's shoulders and fled the scene with minimum fuss. The Precures left with their own though of what just happened, mostly confused and in dilemma.

Mana dismissed her transformation and glomped her dear friend, her arms hooked into her neck.

"Alice! Alice! I'm so happy you're alright!"

The Yotsuba heir only affectionately pat her head like she was a cat. Her smile was serene and she was calmly guided Mana through the ruined landscape of her own home, which slowly restored along with other scars of battle they had sustained. Bystanders and Precures alike were recovered from their injuries, and the world felt with nothing that could show just what a battle between good and evil could do to its body.

**88888**

The show of power didn't go unnoticed by the other Cures. Alice was sitting in the middle of the rank, while several more caution Cures surrounded her with a wary expression.

"You heard a voice…?" Hikari spoke carefully. Knowing from her experience, hearing voice inside one's head was always a sign of something big would going on. Alice nodded without hesitation.

"The Queen of Witch, she said so herself."

"What if she's lying? Some sort of ploy to be released via a wounded gazelle tactic?"

"Komachi-san… I think you read too much 'New Goddess Resurrection'…" Urara laughed a little before her face turn serious, "But… she was talking without, you talked back, and she gave you power?"

Alice thought carefully at this. She was silent for a moment, before shaking her head no.

"I don't think she's giving me her power…"

"What make you think so?"

"She told me that something like that came from ourselves… That it was all ours. I asked her to show me my true self, and she showed me just that… Things that I'd never noticed before."

Oogai Cures shared a long glance with each other.

"You're saying that darkness came from yourself?"

"Yes."

That short reply sent everyone to silence. Blatantly telling every defenders of the light that she affiliated with darkness was a brave move, suicidal even. The silence wasn't holding up for long, as the Cures now mumbled among themselves over it. Alice glanced back and saw her friends approaching her. She welcomed them with a smile; Cures or not Cures, her predecessors' presences still made her nervous.

"Alice…"

"Just calm down, Rikka-chan. Everything's going to be alright."

"It isn't."

The Oogai Cures stared at Aguri, a little speechless. The young Cure crossed her arms and lowered her head, almost like theatrical image of a mentor archetype. She than raised her head with a dramatic jerk, and the rest of the Oogai Cures could see what she would say long before she uttered it outright.

"Darkness is not something that we should dwelled in. Remember that our enemies are those who came from darkness; as defenders of light and justice, we should not indulged ourselves in something that we fight so hard against."

"This again?" Rikka sighed out, "When you attacked Ira in that river, I thought you really not serious when you said it."

"There's a line that we shouldn't cross. After all, when everything's boiled down in the final battle, enemy is still an enemy. And darkness is our enemy."

"Are you saying that those who born from darkness have no ability to become good?"

The one who said that wasn't one of the Oogai Cures. A loud screech of a wooden chair against the floor attracted the attention of every pairs of eyes in the room, as Saki stood up and loudly, angrily, declared her question to the younger Cure.

Mai stood up from her own seat and put reassuring hands on her partner's shoulders, trying to calm her down. But Saki refused to relent, still frowning and glaring, almost like she was the one who felt offended.

"What if there's an enemy that wants to repent? Will you say that they still evil no matter what?!"

"Saki! Please calm down-lapi!"

Flappy shouted at his Cure, running to her and putting his hands on Saki's legs even though the gesture wouldn't mean much. Now, the fairies of the Land of Fountains went down and directly restraining their charge, even though their faces showed they were not disagreeing with her reason. The sudden aggressive reaction made the rest of Oogai Cures instinctively made a semicircle between Aguri and Saki, readying themselves in a defensive stance if the worst happens.

Aguri was barely moved, but a more observant by standers could see she edged herself deeper into the cushion. She was shocked at the sudden aggression, but she held strong to her own opinion.

"What I'm saying that in the end, it's the darkness that we fight. When we know it's the darkness always become our enemy, it's difficult to think the otherwise."

"That kind of thinking is the very reason why darkness becomes our enemy in the first place." Ako hotly shot back. Aguri turned to her, surprised. Kanade stepped in front of her and put her hand as a barricade.

"This is getting out of the hand. It's better if we calm down and talk about it instead of yelling at each other." The white Cure than pointedly stared at the both young Cures and drawled, a little threat hidden in her voice, "Right…?"

All sides dismissed their pent up anger and wilted into their respective seats.

**88888**

"Noise… is the embodiment of sorrow, you see… But as Majorland is the kingdom which protecting the happiness of the worlds, he was automatically deemed evil because his very existence was threatening Majorland's, and by proxy the worlds', safety."

"It was the royal family's, my ancestors', fault that hostility came to be." Ako mumbled out her narration, her voice heavy with regret, "We called him evil, we named his birthplace and land evil, and we cursed those who followed him as evil. He was tired of the treatment, and the hostility became mutual."

They were all silent, listening to a child telling a story about her family's mess.

"I was taught that Noise was evil, and I believed so for so long. My grandfather's story about his fight against Noise, how this great 'evil' threatened the world by his mere presence, how the Cresendo Tone exhausted her power and my grandfather spent decades exiling himself into his work just to imprison him. Then… my father suddenly became Noise's follower after he tried to retrieve Cresendo Tone from Noise's clutch."

Ako heard a sharp inhale of breath, but she couldn't identify from who it was as she had her head lowered.

"My father… the kind and bumbling King Mephisto of Majorland… turning evil?" she chuckled at this, "It was so absurd, I couldn't believe it truly happened until he attacked his wife, my mother, right in the middle of the annual Melody of Happiness ceremony. Then I started to think there's must be a reason why," she looked over her shoulder and shared a smile with her teammates, "And _we _found it, and learned to understand that we don't fight because of hatred. That there are things that we shouldn't hate just because of the way they were born."

The yellow Cure glanced to Saki, who had her eyes on her lap, "Hey, Saki. It's your turn."

The baker girl jerked her head up, meeting everyone's gaze, and looked back down. She was playing with the hem of her skirt nervously, until another hand closed on hers. Mai smiled at her and faced the crowd with a surprising confidence compared to her more tomboyish counterpart.

"Have we told you a story about Michiru-san and Kaoru-san?" most shook their head no, "I guess it's a good thing, then. We don't need to repeat it many times over…"

The gifted artist spoke them of a tale of their dear friends, a pair of twins who was born from power of destruction. Born only to destroy, but then rebelled against their very nature. Setsuna nodded in sympathy when Mai started to talk about how they infiltrated into Yuunagi community, only to be charmed by its people.

"Michiru-san said it herself in front of Akudaikahn, 'People in the Land of Greenary might be petty and weak, but they all are warm-hearted'. They spoke to their 'father' to spare the land they grew to love, and was mercilessly shredded. They survived, but in coma for more than 6 months."

"When our fight against the rest of the Dark Fall generals became unavoidable, they used that 'darkness is light's enemy' nonsense as reason to sway them back." Saki took over her partner's narration with a slightly calmer manner than the previous, "You don't know how much Michiru and Kaoru were so sad and confused over it. Dark Fall is their family; being told that they are traitors to their siblings and father cause them so much anguish. I won't let anyone hurt them anymore than they already are!"

The revelation was a punch right to Aguri's face.

"There's line that we should not cross, but it doesn't mean that we can't be tolerant of it." Hikari gave the younger Cure's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, her voice was wise and gentler than her companions'. "If we can't do that, then we're not being just."

Hikari waved her hand toward Clover Street and Kanon Town's Cures.

"After all, we have some ex-enemy generals here…"

The meeting left everyone in sour mood, and they decided to call it a day after no one seemed to have intention to continue talking.

**Chapter 4 Ends**

**88888**

This chapter marking the end of the introductory arc, after this Smile and DokiDoki teams will take the planned front stage.

Aguri AKA Cure Ace already became a controversy since her introduction. Utterly lack of foreshadowing of her existence and the staff's interview attitude toward the fans' reaction of the matter split the fans' opinion toward her. But the thing that douses the flame with more fuel is that one statement of hers the other Precures will consider 'heresy'.

"Enemy is enemy, evil is evil" Is not something that you should say within the community that depends so heavily on power of friendship, mercy, and redemption after all.

As it slowly shows in latter episodes, her lack of initial interaction with Regina creates her dismissal attitude toward the others' determination to save Regina. The recent reveal also shows she has some form of natural 'rejection' toward Regina in particular, which is of course spoiler. I think this kind of in-team conflict can escalate into something ugly, especially when DokiDoki is one of a more morally grey Precure season.

With so many headstrong Pink Cures and sharp-tongued auxiliary Cures within the team, I don't think All Stars scenario will go as smoothly when there's only five people per team. And unlike Mana, they just don't have the patience to establish order.

In this chapter, we see the first glimpse of the McGuffin's spirit. Wild Card type of character always knocks the status quo to chaos, and I think I want to see the archetype more in the franchise. Black Cure Muse is an interesting character because of that reason too. Of course, since the Queen of Witch is an inanimate object, her impact isn't exactly large unless it has something to do with other characters.

Timeline-wise, this arc starts two days after episode 31 and goes for two days before the fight against Valdez. The next chapter will have several episodes in between. Some episodes might even get incorporated into the story.

Happy New Year, everyone!


End file.
